Anthony Albanese sends a blunt four word message to Trump over US tariff threats

By HARRISON CHRISTIAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 00:43 BST, 1 April 2025 | Updated: 03:32 BST, 1 April 2025

Anthony Albanese has hit back at the Trump administration, saying Australia’s trade policies are ‘not up for negotiation’ even under the threat of tariffs.

The key issues the US is attempting to influence with the threat of imposing tariffs include pharmaceutical subsidies, biosecurity restrictions on imports, and the news media bargaining code which makes social media sites pay for the news content they use. 

Mr Albanese said on the election campaign trail in South Australia on Tuesday morning that ‘those issues are not up for negotiation from the Australian government’.

‘We will defend Australia’s interests. The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is like cutting off your nose to spite your face,’ he said.

‘In order to defend the exports that total less than 5 per cent of Australia’s exports, you would undermine our biosecurity system. Not on my watch.

‘I have very clearly indicated Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We are not negotiating over the news bargaining code. We will not undermine our biosecurity.’ 

New 25 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium exported to the US came into effect on March 12 – but Trump is set to impose additional tariffs of up to 25 per cent on agriculture and pharmaceutical imports into the US on Wednesday. 

It has sparked a new round of negotiations with the Albanese government, which is trying to secure an exemption, having failed to do so on those metal exports. 

Anthony Albanese has hit back at the Trump administration, saying its concerns about Australia are ‘not up for negotiation’

The Australian policies that Trump is attempting to influence with the threat of tariffs include pharmaceuticals, biosecurity and the news media bargaining code

American drug manufacturers have expressed concern about the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) capping the prices they would have otherwise been able to charge chemists. 

Trump may try to force Australia to review the scheme, which would threaten the future of cheap point-of-sale medicines. 

But Mr Albanese made clear on Tuesday that the PBS would be off the table in any talks. 

He has also refused to budge on Australia’s biosecurity system, as American meat producers bemoan the cost it imposes on selling to Australia, and a news bargaining code requiring digital platforms to pay for the news stories they post on their sites. 

The Prime Minister suggested he had yet to speak to Trump on the phone again because the two countries had yet to reach an agreement.

The PBS is one of the pillars of Labor’s election campaign, with Mr Albanese promising to slash the maximum cost of prescription medicine under the scheme to a maximum of $25 for non-concession customers. 

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Anthony Albanese sends a blunt four word message to Trump over US tariff threats

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